Hunters tracked bison, now-extinct mammoths and mastodons through what is now Colorado 15,000 years ago. The first permanent settlements appeared in the southwestern part of the state thousands of years ago; their ancestors built the ruins in Mesa Verde National Park. Many other Native American cultures later lived in the area, including the Ute, Arapaho, and Cheyenne tribes.

Spanish conquistadors arrived in Colorado in the 1500s, the first European visitors to the area. In 1858, the discovery of gold at Cherry Creek (present-day Denver) attracted the first American settlers to the area, and in 1876, Colorado officially became a state. Spanish explorers named the river that ran through the Colorado area, meaning “red”, because of its dirty red hue. Over time, this became the name of the territory. Colorado is called the Centenary State because it became a state the same year the United States turned one hundred years old.

Geography of Colorado

Geography of Colorado

According to itypetravel.com, Colorado is bordered by Utah to the west, New Mexico and Oklahoma to the south, Kansas and Nebraska to the east, and Wyoming to the north. The southwest corner of the state intersects with Utah, Arizona and New Mexico at a single point known as the Four Corners – the only place in the country where you can be in four states at the same time! The Rocky Mountains cover much of the western part of the state. This mountain range stretches from New Mexico to Canada, but Colorado is home to the highest peak, Mount Elbert, at 14,440 feet above sea level. Travel east and you will enter the Great Plains. This massive grassland covers over a million square miles of the North American interior and is used for cattle and corn and wheat cultivation.

Wildlife of Colorado

The mountains are home to Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, mountain goats, black bears, mountain lions and beavers, endangered boreal toads, golden eagles and great horned owls. On the plains you will find mammals such as prairie and bison; reptiles like rattlesnakes; amphibians love the tiger salamander; and birds like burrowing owls and skylarks, the state bird. There are dozens of trees native to Colorado; many of them, including the ponderosa pine, are conifers. This means that they are evergreen trees with needles and cones. If you smell pine bark, you might smell vanilla or toffee.

DENVER

Population: 556.835 thousand people (2005)
Area: 401.3 sq. km

Denver is located in the central part of the United States of America and is the capital of the state of Colorado. The city was founded in 1858 by gold diggers from Kansas. The city has many historical sights, architecturally interesting buildings, wonderful museums and parks.

Of the sights of the city, I would like to especially note – the Capitol of the State of Colorado. The building now hosts meetings of the Colorado General Assembly. The construction of the Capitol lasted almost eight years. Colorado white granite was used in the construction, rare pink onyx and white marble were used in the interior decoration. See Colorado cities.

Walk down 16th street. This is a kind of Denver Arbat. Walk through the many shops, relax in a cafe or restaurant, listen to street musicians, watch a chess game at colorful chess tables. If you are tired, then free buses are at your service.

Visit the oldest district of the city – LoDo. This is exactly the part of the city around which Denver grew in the future. Now there are many entertainment venues – bars, clubs, restaurants.

We recommend visiting the town of Georgetown located near Denver. This is a mountain town with one main street, tiny houses. This is probably the best candy and ice cream shop in the world. And of course – the majestic peak of Argentina, which attracts hiking enthusiasts here.

Seventy miles from the city is the most popular and picturesque in all of Colorado – National Park (Rocky Mountain National Park).

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science was established in 1990. Various exhibitions are regularly held here. Of great interest to visitors are sections of geology and sections devoted to health. Tired of excursions, you can take a walk through the wonderful park with a lake located around the museum.

The Denver Art Museum, Confluence Park will amaze you not only with the collection of works of art by European, American and Asian masters collected here, but also with the architecture of the museum building itself. The museum building, designed by architect Frederick Hamilton, is made in the form of the wreckage of a spaceship that was destroyed by aliens.

If you are traveling with small children, be sure to visit the Children’s Museum. In this museum, your child, and children under 8 years old are brought here, will be able to touch various mechanisms, and climb wherever possible, lie on the floor, blow bubbles, and learn about various animals and much more.

We also recommend visiting the Museum of European Art – the Miselle Museum, which exhibits young masters of photography, painting, sculpture; Museum of miniatures, dolls and toys with an excellent collection of toys from Russia, Japan, Chile and other countries.

There are many parks in the city. The largest is Park City. You can go boating on the lakes located in the park. There is a wonderful zoo in the park. We recommend visiting the section of the zoo – “Asian Rainforest”, which is inhabited by elephants.

The Denver Botanical Garden, in addition to the usual greenhouses with various plants – orchids, tropical palm trees, cacti and other outlandish plants of the subtropical zone, the garden is interesting for its children’s corner. Here, children will be explained how to make a garden bed, how to become a gardener, what a cucumber looks like and what bees are for.

 

Geography of Colorado
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